St George Illawarra chief executive Peter Doust yesterday moved to assure Dragons fans the club had nothing to hide in regard to its salary cap following the Melbourne Storm's systematic rorting that has rocked the NRL.
Doust said a full audit in November showed that the club's player payments were above board.
The Dragons - and the other 14 NRL clubs - would receive $73,333 after the Storm were stripped of prize money from their 2007 and 2009 premierships - with those titles also wiped from the record books.
Full coverage of the Dragons A source yesterday told the Mercury that further sanctions and financial penalties were likely once a full investigation to determine the extent of the rorts and any subsequent fraud charges were determined.
The Storm were revealed to have illegally handed players $1.7 million in player payments over a five-year period to retain several star performers.
One of the biggest scandals in Australian sporting history, it has led to allegations that underhand payments to players were rife across other clubs in the NRL.
TRY HARD: Salary cap drama makes me happy However, Doust was adamant St George Illawarra - which has not won a premiership as a joint venture club but has been an NRL powerhouse since the Dragons and Steelers came together in 1999 - had no reason for concern over player payments.
"We had an audit in November by Mr Schubert (NRL salary cap auditor Ian Schubert)," Doust said.
"In regard to the salary cap there are always arguments about this and that in regard to payments and what is included, but everybody should be very confident in regard to our roster."
VOTE: Can the Storm survive the scandal? NRL chief executive David Gallop yesterday renewed his warning to clubs about the risks involved in cheating the salary cap.
"We'll continue to audit as we've been doing for many years now," he said.
"And the reminder to everyone is, those that you think you can trust in your club now, may not be people you can trust in the future.
"Detection is difficult. In any area of law enforcement where detection is difficult the risks have to be high and the penalties have to be high."
He brushed aside talk surrounding other clubs being involved in salary cap breaches.
"It's the oldest schoolyard excuse that everyone is doing it. I've always said that the salary cap isn't foolproof," Gallop said.
"All I can say is, once again, if you're taking that risk it is a big one."
Doust said he had been aware of the audit being carried out at the Storm, but was not aware of any inappropriate use of the salary cap until it was revealed by Gallop on Thursday afternoon.
He also said there were too many variables involved in Melbourne's success in recent years to say that their history with their great rivals had been tainted.
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